Dry conditions and high winds bring risk of wildfires to region

Facing a serious lack of moisture and expected strong, gusty winds, the National Weather Service has issued a fire weather watch for Thursday evening through Friday morning across southwestern Oregon.

Facing a serious lack of moisture and expected strong, gusty winds, the National Weather Service has issued a fire weather watch for Thursday evening through Friday morning across southwestern Oregon.

The watch, issued today, says the greatest danger for "rapid fire growth," will occur at elevations above 3,500 feet, but the advisory touches portions of the Rogue Valley floor, said Shad Keene, meteorologist with the NWS in Medford.

The last time the weather service here issued a fire weather watch during winter was 1998, Keene said.

"This is for the gusty winds and the low humidity in combination with the very dry fuels. The forest is dry. If there was a fire sparked, our primary concern is the potential for rapid fire growth," Keene said. "We may have had these types of winds already this winter, but it wasn't as dry. It's been such a long time since we've seen a lot of rain and we're expecting it to stay dry."

Keene said the weather service worked in partnership with land management agencies including the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management and Oregon Department of Forestry to determine the level of fire danger before releasing the advisory.

Strong winds out of the northeast could reach as high as 30 miles per hour during the advisory, and humidity is expected to float between 20 and 30 percent.

"To have these sustained long durations of low humidity during winter is unusual," Keene said. "It's more of a summertime type of phenomena."